6 posts tagged “unpersons”

It's Friday!  That means that Brian and I will be LIVE at 9pm EST tonight!  We're recording episode 3, and it's going to f*cking RULE!  Episodes 1 and 2 as well as the Pilot are available for direct download from the site and through iTunes.  Just search for Unpersons and you'll see us under 'Podcasts'.  The internet is vast and wide, tell everyone that you know about Unpersons.  Tell everyone that you know, "....you are not alone!"

That's right! We're so official it's not even funny!  Check the Unpersons' site for details.

Okay, now that I've gotten most of my politics out of my system, here's the news that most of you have been waiting for, UNPERSONS!

That's right!  Unpersons official go live is almost here!  I've figured out the studio's kinks and ironed them out.  Brian has done a wonderful job of getting our new infrastructure here at home in place and running.  I've finally landed some theme music (thanks BobbyCarbn).  The website theme is just waiting to be uploaded, installed, and configured.  I've figured out mix-minus and how to take Skype calls with out the person on the line hearing themselves.  WE'RE SO CLOSE!  Don't give up now, my friends.  Start spreading the word if you haven't already.

We're going to come at you raw!  I actually want the 'explicit' tag on iTunes!  The first words out of our mouths are probably going to be the 7 words you can't say on TV according the the great, late George Carlin. 

We're going to talk about video games, security, and comic books.  We're going to voice opinions on anything and everything.  Nothing is sacred. Nothing is holy.  All is fair game.  There is no remorse. 

We ARE the Unpersons.  The forgotten youth of the world.  The write-offs.  The forgotten.  We are those who most thought would do nothing but stare at green text on a black background, play our games, configure routers from scratch, or just generally do nothing with ourselves.

Look who's laughing now!  We're the bosses, decision makers, developers, keepers of the almighty dollar.  We create the trends.  We make our own fasions.  We do what we want, when we want, using whatever guise we see fit.

We are raceless, faceless, genderless.  We hold no pre-conceived notions.  We are the Unpersons.

For those that think you might be, we are are here to tell you, you are not alone.

I received a really interesting article in a newsletter just a little while ago.  It referenced using social networking as a tool for researching prospective employees.  More specifically, it dealt with trying to research someone who had NO presence on the net.  No forum posts, no profiles on any social networking sites, absolutely nothing.  I had no choice to actually respond.  The author encouraged it, who am I to deny?? ;)  Below is my reply:

Stephen,
I’ll preface this message by saying that I do not hold a position that requires me give interviews.  Generally, I am the one that is being interviewed.  I’m a consultant in the SAP industry.  I also have a very high internet presence having been a part of the video podcast Hak5.  I hold several profiles on several social networking sites.  Twitter, Facebook, and Pownce are just a few. 

With the popularity of Hak5 and being in the industry that I’m in, I have become acquainted with many people.  Some have an internet presence that is just as high, if not higher, than mine.  I have also met people that have little to no presence.  Both are just as intelligent and capable as the other.  It’s a matter of personal preference as to how much one makes themselves researchable on the net. 

I’ve never really believed that using social networking as a way to weed out people based off of information or events posted on whatever profiles they have is exactly fair.  Before ‘web 2.0’ and social networking, employers didn’t have that kind of information at hand and could easily hire someone then that they wouldn’t now based off of what they do in their personal time or who they associate with. 

I applaud anyone that can keep that small of a footprint.  In today’s age, it takes effort to make yourself that anonymous.  This doesn’t make them paranoid or afraid to use information at hand.  They just chose to not leave a mark on the net.  They are most likely good problem solvers.  They can find answers based off of what others have already experienced.  Cognitive thought, and the ability to assimilate information from two different situations to solve a third is what we all thrive on.  Technical knowledge and some creative thinking carries a long way in the realm of technology as a whole, not just DBA, SAP, or even in a Microsoft environment.

I supposed I’m really arguing two different points at the same time.  Just because a person isn’t “googlealbe” doesn’t make them a good or a bad candidate for a position.  It just means the interviewer is going to have to be old school and go off of body language, communication skills, and general gut feeling about the interviewee. 

The second point is that I don’t believe that social networking sites should be used as a tool to judge a person’s character.  I’m sure that there are pictures of myself out there at less than my finest.  Due to the fact that there is photographic evidence that I enjoy drinking beer, smoking, or being surrounded by friends, does that mean that I would be excluded from a position?  Looking into a person’s life outside of work can, and will, create prejudices before they even have a chance to prove themselves.  That’s what references are for.  Calling those who they left as references will give you (not you specifically, the general ‘you’ of all interviewers and prospective employers) insight to their abilities and work ethics, which should be all possible employment should be based off of.

Candidate A has a myspace page with Patsy Cline in an embedded player.  Candidate B has Slayer or some other kind of (death) metal.  Candidate C has almost no presence anywhere.  All have similar credentials, levels of education, and work experience.  A is a homebody and doesn’t do much of anything.  B likes to party on the weekends, but showed up to the interview clean and pressed.  No one knows anything about C.  With prejudices that may have entered due to personal tastes and habits, B has already been excluded.  The interviewer doesn’t like the fact that they drink Natural Light and head-bang on the weekends.  So it’s down to A and C.  The interviewer knows that A is a homebody, or do they?  A could be some kind of crazy drug addict, but they just don’t make it public knowledge.  That leaves us with C.  All we know about C is that we don’t know anything.  C has to be judged by what information they provided.  It’s human nature to assume the worst when we don’t know anything.  A has left us a little something to mentally gnaw on, while C did not.  We have no choice to but to assume that A is telling the truth.  We take the information for face value, so we make our decision, A it is.

Two people were just hosed because of personal preferences.  Prejudices, or dare I say “discrimination”, is something that all must strive to overcome. 

I have rambled enough.  I appreciate your time in reading this.

Best Regards,
Wesley Tobler

I know I tend to ramble a bit, however, I do think that I made a valid point.  A person's personal life should have little to no influence on getting a job.  Let their actions at work speak for themselves.  Thoughts, comments, editorials on how much of a raging douche I am can either be left in the comments, or e-mail me at dankiswess (at) gee-mail (dot) com.

Okay, so, my bad.  I didn't keep all of you updated like I said I would.  I admit to my epoch phail.

And now, on to the news...

Brian and I have been working our asses off getting as much of the backend stuff done and ready for Unpersons to go live.  The domain is registered and the webspace is ready.  Forums are installed as well as our CMS.  My good friend TestMAD from Thinstack.com has been coding his ever-loving fingers to the bone to bring us a fully custom Unpersons' theme for our CMS.  Brian is putting the finishing touches on our mail so that we'll be able to receive all of your questions, comments, and suggestions in a neat and tidy manner.  If you want to sound off now, and tell us what you'd like to hear on the show, feedback@unpersons.org is ready to rock and roll, and we'll keep a close eye on it. 

We are seriously all about the community.  We want to know what entertains you.  What video games are you excited about?  What new and upcoming band would you like to help support?  Is there a comic book story arch going on right now that really gets you going?  Hell, even just some venting about how much the world sucks or how someone did you wrong. 

One last thing.  As away to help get things going, take a look at the Unpersons' Flickr for some awesome desktops by TestMAD.  There are 'Mac' and 'PC' versions so that your icons won't cover the awesomeness.

Be looking in the next few days for unpersons.org to be live with our bad ass theme and have your RSS aggrigators ready for some new feed love!

--Wess

Okay, so, I've been a busy little bee over the last 5 days!

I spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, after working all day, moving out of my apartment and into a house with some friends of mine.  I had holiday weekend cook-outs on both Saturday and Sunday, then spent all day today trying to get my stuff unpacked.  My game systems, TV, receiver, desk + computer, and bed are all in my room and set-up and running perfectly.

Unpersons hasn't fallen to the wayside either.  We're slowly working on it.  There are still a lot of things Brian and I have to get done before Unpersons can go live.  I still have some equipment to purchase, get a better desk to better accommodate the studio, get the streaming server up and running, the site designed and coded, the list goes on.

I will continue to keep you posted as progress is made.

(I need a new tag line and taking suggestions)

--Wess